The Heroic Deeds of Vanilla Milkshake
by galliechan
Summary: Akashi had the shock of his life when someone didn't obey his order. For AkaKuro Week 2018. Superpowers!AU
1. We're just Getting Started

Disclaimer: The Kuroko no Basket manga is the property of its creator, Tadatoshi Fujimaki. The other Kuroko no Basket media is property of their authorised owners. These stories are created by the author. All original settings, characters, etc., remain the property of the author.

Author's Note: Here comes another AkaKuro week and another one of my hurried stories. I am excited about this week (mostly about how I will manage to finish a chapter everyday,) so I hope you'll like the story.

The Heroic Deeds of Vanilla Milkshake

A Kuroko no Basket fanfiction

by Galliechan

© Copyright 2018

We're just Getting Started

The villain of the day was shouting nonsense while brandishing his machine gun around when Akashi entered the bank. There were bullet marks on the walls, the glass panels were broken and a queue separator was still smoking at a corner. Midorima had crouched next to it, tinkering with his weapon.

He stiffened when Akashi came closer but continued screwing his long-range sensor off with a white-knuckled fist. Without raising his head, he said "Why are you here?"

"We have the situation under control-ssu!" Kise shouted from the other side.

Akashi glanced at the customers and employees clustered next to the wall, screaming every time the villain's gun came close to them. Then, he looked outside where the police cars were blocking the road and officers waited at a safe distance. At last, he stared at the scattered bunch of heroes glaring at everywhere except him.

"We're just getting started!"

"No need for Aka-chin."

"Akashi-kun, all data show we can -"

"Get away from us, nanodayo."

"Quiet!" the kidnapper yelled and shot a few rounds to the ceiling. People shrieked when plaster rained on them. The guy pointed his machine gun at Akashi with a smirk. "Another hero? You can do what others can't?"

Akashi walked towards him.

He looked into the kidnapper's eyes and imagined his power twining around the man like an ivy.

He jerked back when Midorima's bullet flew between them. With wide eyes, he looked at its smoking remains on the wall and then to its owner.

"Don't use it around us," he hissed behind his sniper.

"Use your freaky power on me and I will kill one of -"

Akashi twisted around to face the man and in a clear voice, said "Kneel."

His knees hit the ground with a crack. His shocked look melted into the dazed one Akashi knew too well. With a thought, his limp fingers released the machine gun.

In the silence, one hero whimpered. Another cursed. Akashi stopped himself from looking at them - he didn't need to know how pale they would be this time. When he glanced at the hostages, they fell on each other to get away from him.

And, that was fine.

They were alive.

He squared his shoulders and walked towards the main door. An absent thought for the closest police officer unlocked and opened it for him.

He walked amongst silent officers, some jumping out of his way not to touch him while others covering eyes with their hands. At the furthest car from the bank was the police chef, whose eyes widened when Akashi's found his. Akashi gave a quick nod without slowing down his pace.

Behind him, the sirens weren't loud enough to cover up their panicked shouts of 'are his eyes glazed?', 'he said nothing, is eye contact enough?' and 'sir, can you hear me?'

He hadn't needed eye contact to use his power for years, nor did he require to voice all his orders. The others didn't know it though.

It has been years since he talked to them. As his power grew stronger, people perceived his every word as orders or suggestions. So, Akashi opened his mouth only for them.

Sometimes he wondered if it wasn't his power's the true backlash.

Still, Akashi gave a small smile, he got to save people today.

Focusing on this tiny warm spot in his chest instead of the hard, cold lump in his stomach all his peer's reactions brought on, he entered a cafe.

He looked into the blue-haired barista's eyes and said, "a tall black coffee." Since this was a private reward for his heroic deed, he put the money on the counter and added, "bring it to my table."

At his seat, he checked his mobile - nothing unusual - and his pager - they wouldn't call him unless there was no other choice. With quite a distance between himself and all the people averting his eyes, in this calm cafe, Akashi closed his eyes and let the tension leave his limbs with a shudder.

He opened his eyes when the barista put his drink on the table.

It was a milkshake.


	2. There was only one

**Author's Note:** And this is the chapter that I discard my outline, tell you about everything I planned for the future chapters and now I don't know what will happen in the next. Well, I always have 24 hours, right? Hope you'll enjoy it.

 **There was only one**

Akashi looked at his drink, his mind empty. He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them. Nope, it was still a milkshake. A vanilla one, according to its colour.

He giggled.

"Ah, you order was a coffee."

"Yes," he said in a breathless voice. He raised his head to look at the blue-haired barista.

Behold, the first person to disobey Akashi's command -

-who was looking at his order receipt as if it wronged him somehow.

Akashi giggled again, feeling lightheaded.

The barista sighed. "I will change it."

"No!" He grabbed his milkshake. It would to be too sweet for his taste and he never liked cold drinks, but this drink was special. The first one to come against his orders. "It is fine."

"Okay," the barista said with a sceptical look. Then he gave a small smile at Akashi's possessive hold on the glass, "I like milkshake better than coffee too."

Akashi barked a laugh.

After a nod and "enjoy your drink, sir," the barista left. Akashi stared at his retreating back, wrapped him head to toe with his power and with all his might, directed him to turn back to say his name to Akashi. The barista went back to the counter and prepared the next order. A few tables down, a customer looked at him with dazed eyes and introduced himself.

Suppressing the scream building in his chest, Akashi took a sip of his saccharine drink and closed his eyes. Deep breath, hold it, release it. Again. He sent a wave of his power towards the tables - they burst out laughing. Another to the outside - someone knocked on the window.

He raised his head and glanced at the cashier - he singed a song. He narrowed his eyes and stared at the barista - he continued looking at his co-worker with a confused expression. Then, his eyes wandered over the customers who threw Akashi disturbed looks.

At last, he looked at Akashi. He waited for the eye-contact and commanded - didn't work. Instead, the barista returned to his work with a shrug.

Akashi took another sugary sip to push away the incoming surge of hysterical laughter this time.

A quarter into his drink, he calmed his heartbeat, somewhat regulated his breathing and repress his need to scream and laugh until he reached home.

Halfway, he changed his seat. He sat with his back to the window to watch the blue-haired barista. By the time he finished his drink, the barista prepared fifteen orders; two of them were milkshakes like the one Akashi was holding, which seemed to be his go to drink when he forgot the order. He also broke two glasses and dropped his instruments about a dozen times. Every time, he threw a determined frown at the piece while his coworkers didn't seem to notice his clumsiness at all.

With the cold, sugary mass of his special drink sitting in his stomach and adding to his nausea, Akashi walked up to the barista and said, "Who are you?"

He blinked at him and said, "I am Kuroko," pointing to his name tag with the blender in his hand.

"No. Who are you?"

"I am Kuroko the barista."

"You aren't just a barista," Akashi said, narrowing his eyes.

"Ah." He brightened. "I also work part-time at a kindergarten."

Akashi growled. The customer next to him complained for her drink, sending Kuroko after the cups. Akashi stopped her mid-sentence with a snarl. Kuroko frowned when she didn't take the drink he put in front of her.

Akashi leaned forward to gain his attention. "Do you have a pager?"

The barista's eyes widened for a split second. Akashi's heart beat faster.

"Why would I-"

"You have one."

"I don't-"

"You do. How do you do it?"

"Do what? What pager-"

"A pager The Society gives. You have one!"

"I don't, sir," he said, raising his voice.

"Is this your disguise? I am not here the expose you, just answer a question."

"This is my job-"

"Oi! What is going on there?" The cashier called. When Akashi looked at him, the noise hit him. Everybody was talking. The waiting customers were making a fuss while the sitting ones chatted without a stop. The woman under his power was still looking at her drink with empty eyes while her friends called her to the table.

His ears were ringing. He covered them with shaky hands.

In addition, Kuroko was back to preparing drinks. He wanted to talk to him.

And he wanted peace and silence.

Quiet!

Kuroko raised his head from the instruments at the sudden silence. Even the street noises seemed to quiet down in the vacuum of sound and lack of activity.

Akashi took a deep breath.

"I have a pager," he said, gaining Kuroko's wide eyes on him. "And a superpower. It doesn't work on you."

Kuroko took in his surroundings, paling by the second. Akashi knew to finish this before the trembling started.

"Why doesn't it work on you? What power do you have?"

"I don't have a pager," Kuroko said, halting. "And I don't know about your power."

"Why doesn't it work on you?"

He shook his head, eyes roaming on the blank-eyed customers. His breathing was getting faster.

"I want answers! Now!" For he would get unresponsive in a few moments.

"I don't have them!"

Akashi did a double take at his flashing eyes.

There was only one person who didn't feel his power and was it possible he wasn't affected by its backlash as well?

"Then, we will find out!" He grabbed the guy's sleeve to pull him out of the cafe.


	3. I'm not leaving you behind

**Author's Note:** Discarded an outline and found a better one. I hope it isn't as confusing as it sounds to me and let me just say that I never liked cliff hanger endings.

Well, it is midnight here. Tomorrow is a fresh, new day - for all of us, including Akashi and Kuroko.

Enjoy the new chapter.

 **3 - I'm not leaving you behind**

Akashi ran with no destination in mind, except for peace, quiet and to finish his conversation with Kuroko. He moved people away from his path, pulling from the stumbling barista's sleeve. They stopped at a park next a school, tranquil in the class hours.

Kuroko threw himself to a bench, panting. "Sir knows how to run."

"I am a hero." He watched in silence as the guy calmed down. "It is Akashi Seijuro."

"Nice to meet you, Akashi-san," he said, with a large smile and bright eyes.

This must be the normal hero reaction.

"It is nice to meet you too, Kuroko-san. The first person my power doesn't work on."

"And the first person you can talk to with no backlash?"

Akashi's breath caught. The next second, he saw red.

"You know who I am!"

"You are Akashi Seijuro."

He held the guy's cafe apron and shook him. "You know my power, my reputation! Were you making fun of me?"

"I only saw the reactions at the cafe!"

"And what did it say? You liked what you saw?"

"You terrified them," Kuroko said. Akashi felt it like a punch to his chest. "With the power Akashi-san used at the cafe, he must be a strong hero. Yet, he was alone."

Akashi lowered his head and released the guy's apron. Kuroko caught his hands. He tensed but didn't pull them back.

"I am glad Akashi-san's power doesn't work on me," he said, blue eyes like the sky. "Maybe he wouldn't feel so alone then."

"We are just strangers," he murmured, "why do you care?"

Kuroko shrugged and gave a lopsided smile. "Can't I care for strangers? What a weird question for a hero to ask."

Akashi huffed and pulled his hands back. With a sense of lightness, he looked at the guy who could be his first friend after many years.

Or more, his tingling hands seemed to say.

"Let's toast to our friendship with vanilla milkshake!"

Akashi wrinkled his nose. "A coffee this time?"

"There is nothing better than vanilla milkshake," Kuroko said, expression as serious as if this was a life-or-death situation.

Akashi chuckled but bit his lip when it wobbled. He blinked his eyes and swallowed a few times. He opened his mouth to assure Kuroko that these emotional reactions were the exception because it has been years since he conversed with-

But Kuroko was looking at him like Akashi was the center of his world. Akashi's breath stilled in his chest. He leaned forward, hypnotized, as if he had to touch to convince himself this was real-

They jerked apart when an explosion shook the ground. Their eyes found the huge grey clouds coming from the school next to them.

Akashi sprinted towards it as soon as the shaking stopped. He threw a glare over his shoulder when he heard pants following him.

"What are you doing? I am a hero!"

"And I am a kindergarten teacher. Do you think I can stay behind?"

"What do you think you can do?"

"At least help someone!"

Akashi swallowed his answer when his pager beeped. It better be about the school-

He turned on his heel and grabbed Kuroko's shoulders. "It is a superpowered villain! Get away from here!"

"I won't!"

"They directed the city's all heroes here. You would only get underfoot."

"I want to help!"

"That is what heroes are for!"

His eyes flashed, "do I need a pager to help children?"

Akashi gritted his teeth, wishing his power would work on the guy. Of course, his first friend after years had to be stubborn.

"I will lead all the children outside. Can you calm them down?"

He grinned. "Yes!"

Akashi nodded and raced to the school.

Some faster heroes had reached it as well but their focus were on the villain, shouting from the roof of the three-story building. Akashi entered the left corridor of the ground floor, threw open the closest door and seized all the children and their teacher. When Akashi entered the second classroom, they were already on the way to the main entrance, blank eyed.

By the time he reached the top floor, the ground shook like an earthquake with each punch of the fighting heroes. Akashi wiped sweat from his forehead as he entered the last corridor and sent everyone running, student, teacher or hero helping with the evacuation. He followed them, checking each room to make sure nobody else left.

With his legs like lead and ringing ears, he ran through all the corridors again. The top floors were crumbling under the superpowered fight and he had to leave -

He halted when he saw light blue hair disappearing into a classroom. With power gained through an adrenaline spike, he roared after him.

"What are you doing?"

"She said she had a sister!"

"What sis-"

Kuroko pulled a crying child from under a desk. Their wide eyes met for a moment.

"Run!" Akashi shouted, cursing the other heroes and their attempts at evacuation. He looked over his shoulder in horror as the ground were broken apart with a thundering noise. When Kuroko threw the child, he caught her only by reflex.

"Take her outside!"

"I'm not leaving you behind!"

"I will be fine!" He picked up over the deafening sound as the cracks along the ground moved towards them.

"Like hell you will!"

The building groaned around them when a hero fell from the upper floor, making a hole in the ground as he continued below. As if this was the signal it was waiting for, the whole floor fell apart. Kuroko gave a bright grin just before he fell to the darkness below.

"Drink a vanilla milkshake!"

Akashi didn't know how he got outside. There was a roar in his ears.

How did he heard the sobbing at the courtyard?

Was he breathing? Why?

In a daze, Akashi thought whether pulling his heart out of his chest would decrease its pain.

He didn't know how much time passed when he noticed the tiny hand poking his shoulder.

He was holding a child.

"Why are you crying?" she said.

"He - he fell?"

"Who?"

Akashi didn't have an answer.

He looked at the crumbled building behind him. He had checked all the classrooms but some people might have fallen. Why was his chest in agony over them?

It wasn't like they were special for Akashi.

Akashi didn't have a special person for years after all.


	4. I've known all along

**4 - I've known all along**

Akashi was wretched. His body ached, his legs were shaking and his head felt heavy - results of his power's heavy use. In addition, his chest hurt like someone slashed it open and he couldn't stop weeping.

His peers' terse sentences weren't comparable to a schoolful of children screaming in terror the moment they saw him. He hoped he got used to his backlash, but his tears seemed to disagree.  
Akashi stumbled off the schoolyard to the park next to it for quiet and peace. The moment he sat down on a bench, his tears turned into sobs though. Just the notion of suppressing them hurt like salt on his chest wound so Akashi left himself to the tide. He hugged his knees, put his forehead on them and cried to his heart's content.

The sun was setting when he left the park, hungry and with a head full of cotton. He turned his back to the remains of the school and entered the first fast food restaurant he found, wishing to go back home as soon as possible.

He wrinkled his nose at the smell and ordered the plainest burger the place offered, hoping it also meant it was with the least calories. Just as he collapsed to his seat and was about to take his first bite, someone sat at his table.

With a groan into his food, Akashi sent him away, not caring about the disturbed looks he would receive.

The guy didn't leave. Instead, he put a drink in front of Akashi and said, "do you want vanilla milkshake?"

Akashi raised his head, looked into the guy's blue eyes and commanded him to find another table. He smiled and took a sip of his own drink.

Akashi rubbed his eyes - was he tired enough to hallucinate?

As much as he used his power overmuch at the school, it wouldn't falter on a close range target. He focused on the guy, wrapped his power on his arms and jerked them.

They didn't move.

Akashi frowned. The guy watched him with a smile like he was on a private joke the entire time the customers make weird moves, sang or danced.

Just as they began with the glares, he pushed the drink towards Akashi and said, "Vanilla milkshake?"

Akashi groaned, feeling like a doll out of battery. Would this day end already?

"I don't like it."

"You'll love this one."

"Will you leave if I drink it?"

He looked at the drink, sizing it. "If you would listen until it's finished."

Akashi grabbed the milkshake, pushed his half-full food tray aside and took the largest gulp he could, already calculating how many of these would finish the drink.

"In middle school, as my powers awakened alongside my friends, I fell in love with one. He was our group's leader and his power was worthy of one: He commanded. So powerful he was that with a thought, he could move masses. His name was Akashi Seijuro."

The straw popped out of his mouth. "What are you playing at?"

The guy frowned at Akashi's milkshake. He bit the straw and took another large mouthful.

"As vast as Akashi's power was its backlash. Neither of them worked on me. Yet, mine worked on him."

"And you expect me to accept your backlash did what? Turn you into a stranger?"

"Exactly." He gave a bittersweet smile. "Would you believe me if I told you we were together before the school attack? That I brought you another milkshake today? That we went on date last week or we lived together for years?"

"I wouldn't believe you," he said, putting the empty cup to the table. Kuroko grabbed his hand and tightened his hold when Akashi jerked it back.

"Let me convince you?"

Akashi glared at their entwined hands, disturbed at how familiar it was. He must have been brain frozen after finishing a milkshake within minutes.

"I would rather not."

"So you would prefer to go to your empty apartment?"

"Which is calm and peaceful," he snatched his hand back and snarled, "and not with delusional people!"

"You figured at least one part is true: Your power doesn't work on me."

"And why is that? Did you find that answer to that while we were on a date?"

"We figured that out at home. I can take you there," he said with a playful smile.

"How persistent you are!"

He laughed. "I have been doing this for more than a decade. Do you think convincing you get easier each time?"

Akashi gritted his teeth and frowned at the empty milkshake cup. Kuroko took his silence as compliance, jumped up and took his hand again to pull him out of the restaurant.

"What is the deal with the milkshake?" he asked, not believing he was going along with this guy's story, yet unable to crush the tiny hope. "And what is your name?"

"Kuroko Tetsuya," he said with a large smile. "And vanilla milkshake is my favorite drink."

"Why are you making me drink it then?"

Kuroko laughed. It was a nice sound.

—

As soon as Kuroko opened his apartment door, a puppy jumped on Akashi with lots of enthusiasm and saliva.

"He missed you, it's been time," Kuroko said, walking into his house like this was an everyday occurrence. "His name is Nigou."

Akashi was thoroughly licked when Kuroko saved him by bringing out the dog's food. Only then Akashi looked at the place.

There and then, he decided this was the coziest house he had ever seen. It was a haven, a warm embrace instead of the place-to-sleep his house was.

Wiping his face on a towel Kuroko gave, he gravitated towards the main attraction of the living room: The huge bookcase. It was just like the one he wanted in his house. He frowned when he saw a picture frame on a shelf though; he never liked decorations on a books-

The picture was of him and Kuroko. They were grinning to the camera, arms around each other. Akashi had never hugged someone so tight in his life.

The Akashi in the picture could be his lost twin for all he remembered it.

Heart hammering, he looked at the books. It was fine, it could be photoshopped or something-

His breath caught when he saw a large tome. He took it out with shaking hands and caressed its title: The Heroes of Akashi. The book his grandfather gave to his father, who gave it to Akashi.

He hadn't lost it.

Suspicion of Kuroko was a waste of time - there was one copy, only accepting a hero Akashi's touch. Akashi must have brought it to this house.

With the book pressed to his chest, he turned around to face Kuroko and said in a small voice, "can you give me a house tour?"

Afterwards, Akashi sagged into the couch in the living room, drained. The shirt he suspected the dry cleaner lost, the books the library accused him of borrowing, his favorite broken cup and the coat he remembered he had only when he saw it.

Kuroko sat next to him. Akashi put his head on his shoulder, still disturbed that this stranger felt so familiar. Or this familiar guy was a stranger. A warmness spread his insides when Kuroko caressed his cheek.

"What happens next?"

"We live happily ever after."

"Until you use your power next?"

"More or less." He chuckled.

He swallowed. "Can you not?"

"You call it my 'saving people thing', I can't help it." He paused and took Akashi's hand to play with his fingers. "If I have the power to save even one person, how can I not use it? Even if it hurts me. And you."

Akashi smiled. Of course this was the man he loved.

"I am not hurting now."

"You do, when you think you are alone."

"But you persuade me to come here every time?"

"One day, when I appear, I expect you to say 'I've known all along,'" he said in a bright voice and smacked a kiss to his forehead. "And yes, it might take time but you always listen at the end. While you mind forgets, your heart doesn't, after all."


	5. I'll keep this with me

**5 - I'll keep this with me**

"I decided to write a book called The Chronicles of Learning the Man I Love." Akashi said to the vegetables he was chopping. "We can put it next to the Heroes of Akashi. One would be to convince and the other to free myself from future annoyance."

Kuroko snorted, stirring the soup.

"The first chapter will be on his bed hair. How this man's blue hair was as stubborn as himself and no amount of hair gel, spray or conditioner worked on its antigravity tendency. There was only one way to calm them down: You had to caress them while brushing and put a kiss to their owner's sleepy neck at even intervals."

He stood behind Kuroko and emptied the vegetable bowl to the soup. Then practiced the said kiss. Kuroko leaned to his embrace and tilted his head to the other side. Oh, even more practice. Wonderful.

"The second chapter will be on how he squeezes the toothpaste from the middle. This chapter is to not learn it over and over again only to feel annoyed every time."

With a chuckle, Kuroko left the soup to its own and did a weird stretching move to reach the cabinets without loosening the embrace. Akashi tightened his hug and pulled him back just as his fingers touched the plates. He kissed his hair at his frustrated sound.

"The third chapter will be on his clumsiness. There was one and only reason this warm house had white carpets: They were easy to clean. Anything and everything this wonderful man held, know he can drop it the next second."

Kuroko leaned towards the cabinets again but Akashi took a step back.

"Things not to let him carry: Breakable and fragile things or things with important stuff on it - like food."

"Seijuro." Kuroko turned in the embrace with a huff. Akashi laughed and kissed him. Then, just because he could do it, he kissed him again.

Kuroko put his head to Akashi's shoulder, closed his eyes and returned the embrace. "You get the plates then," he murmured.

"I would never withhold you from your practice."

"I worked as a barista, you know."

"Until you gained my attention. You kept on preparing milkshakes, right?"

He hummed. "It is the one drink I am confident in and tastes better than coffee." He raised his head and looked into Akashi's eyes with a mischievous smile, "hugging is also practice."

"Oh, we should do it more! And kissing, that is also great practice."

Kuroko laughed. Akashi couldn't imagine forgetting such a beautiful sound.

"Wait. Every time you break a plate, I forget something about you?"

"I would hope not!"

Akashi burst out laughing.

"They are momentary and not with intent!"

"You use intention to disable your power, dear phantom man."

"Such is my life." He shrugged with a grin, "my man likes me physical." Then, with a pointed look, he opened the cabinet and took two plates. Akashi caught his hands when he brought out the bowls. "I'll keep these with me."

Kuroko was seated at the table, with Nigou playing near his feet, when Akashi entered the living room with two bowls of soup.

"The forth chapter will be on his ancient pager," he said, putting Kuroko's soup in front of him.

"You are still on that?"

Not deigning to answer the question, he blowed at a spoonful of his soup. "Such an antiqued pager is a disgrace to the all pagers. When The Society gave them was a question in itself-"

"In middle school."

"- and how they can leave it open to the public eye for their annoyance was another-"

"They forgot."

"It is in the official records, how can they forget?"

"People hold those records. Later, five years ago they made it digital and didn't transfer mine."

"Your backlash is ridiculous, did I tell you that?"

"You are one to talk."

"At least mine doesn't work on you. Yours work even on Nigou!"

"You deal with it."

Akashi snorted.

"Well, you always remember in the end."

Akashi looked into the soft blue eyes. "Thank you for not giving up on me."

He leaned forward and caressed Akashi's cheek. "I would never."

Akashi kissed his palm. After another eternal moment, Kuroko took his hand back to hold his spoon.

"Besides, Nigou's reaction was enlightening. Even without knowing, he still trusted me. I figured emotional impressions didn't disappear in a short notice."

"Thus comes milkshakes," Akashi grumbled. "The next chapter should be on it. The way this man drowns me in this drink I dislike because I only consume them when he forces me to."

Kuroko sniggered. "Are you serious about writing this?"

"Why not? You must be bored with introducing yourself every time."

"Are you kidding? I love it. Watching you get to know me is exhilarating."

Akashi paused with his spoon halfway to his mouth. "You are weird."

"It is like watching a child uncover a toy he already loves. Such a joyful exploration."

"Thanks for the comparison."

Kuroko dissolved into laughter.

With a smile, Akashi stood up to return their empty bowls to the kitchen and fill up their plates. He halted when his pager beeped.

His eyes went to the insistent device on the coffee table and then to Kuroko, who didn't wear a melancholy expression, thank god, but an urgent one.

He was more of a hero than most pager owners.

"Work is calling," he said and took the bowls from his hands.

"Will you come?" Akashi said, trying to smile while the soup turned to lead in his stomach.

"No," he said, giving him a light peck on the lips. "You are a magnificent hero I trust to do everything in his power to save others. I will wait for you, drinking another bowl of soup to quell my hunger until you come home for dinner."

Akashi kissed him deeply, trying to convey his gratitude, appreciation and love. "You are the best thing in my life."

"Wow, even higher than you power?"

"It is not even in top five," he said over his shoulder, rushing to his pager.

—

Akashi reined himself from cursing wealthy people not to be a hypocrite. He swore their paranoia with freedom though.

Who would build a reinforced, anti-all-known-powers room in their mansion, and hide there when the kidnapper didn't even have a gun?

Then remember the room locked itself when attacked, only when they had to almost tear down the door to reach him, and with a key the idiot hid in another impenetrable room.

Don't get Akashi started on why one rich man needed more than half a dozen heroes for rescue. He wondered about the man's connections in The Society.

"Midorimacchi, stop shooting," Kise shouted, catching another one of the ricocheting bullets.  
Momoi fell down with a scream when Murasakibara's punches shook the tiny room. The kicked the door one last time with a snarl.

Akashi sent his power to the walls again, but they only scratched its surface. Even if he reached someone, how could they get the key from a finger-print locked room?

Kise shouted the direction to the key again.

"Don't use the oxygen," Aomine said, sprawled on the ground, arms behind his head. "They can't hear it with all the ruckus, anyway."

"This room is soundproof," the rich idiot said, proud of the fact.

"And, oxygen-proof?"

"I designed it for myself, not to share it with a bunch of," he waved his hand, wrinkling his nose. "People."

Akashi felt like punching him.

Murasakibara did and then threw a glare at Akashi. Like a tide, all of them scowled at him.

Akashi needed to calm himself and clean his mind.

Kuroko had spoiled him.

He wondered if he was still waiting for him or fell asleep. He imagined precious, patient Kuroko hacking into The Society's channels to figure out the location they sent to his pager-

Akashi froze.

He slid down the wall and put his forehead to his knees.

No. No.

There were a dozen heroes outside, trying to get them out. They had enough oxygen for-

For-?

"Twenty minutes," Momoi said.

Right. Lots of time.

It took fifteen minutes with a car, at top speed, to come to this remote mansion.

But twenty minutes were lots of time; the heroes outside could penetrate this stupid room.

Although they didn't manage to in the last several hours.

Tears came to his eyes - he would rather suffocate than try it.

Besides, it wasn't a guarantee.

But if it worked - but what if it didn't?

He thought of beloved Kuroko waiting for him at home while Akashi - sat down and - preferred to choke - instead of trusting in him.

But first - He set his jaw, raised his head and looked into Momoi's eyes. "Give me a pen."

Aomine jumped from his place with snarl while Midorima pointed his weapon at him.

"Try to do anything and I will seize all of you. I won't deal with you right now."

He took the pen Momoi offered and sent her back to her comrades.

His hand had to do for this time. He could consider a tattoo if it worked.

Afterwards, he paged a device that annoyed him to no end.

Akashi opened his eyes from his dazed dream where he was swimming with hope in a pool of trust while sadness looked on from the side - or something - when Kise slurred, "cool power!"

A blue-haired guy blinked at him before looking at Akashi.

With a wavering focus on the guy's see-through eyes - or were they getting corporeal by the second? - he grasped in his liquid brain.

"Oh! The key!"

—

Leaving the fearful looks with his head high and shoulders squared would be fine if Akashi's legs didn't feel like jelly. Collapsed on the sidewalk just outside the mansion's walls while wishing none of the heroes would see him like this, Akashi stared at his hand in irritation again.

'Believe in him and drink a vanilla milkshake.'

In his handwriting, just to make it more insufferable.

What sort of cryptic message this was?

He straightened in his place, put his hand on his thigh and looked ahead, like he was just enjoying the view, when he heard footsteps coming closer.

It was the blue-haired guy.

Akashi tensed when he sat next to him. The guy's smile was warm when he offered a drink to Akashi.

"Would you want vanilla milkshake?"


	6. Alternate Universe

**Author's Note:** I changed day six and seven prompts because seven didn't have a quote and sixth day quote was more suitable for the last chapter.

 **6 - Alternate Universe**

Akashi glared at his hand, his scowl deepening with every second and wondered if was possible to travel back in time to strangle his past self.

He remembered getting it - saying the sentence to the tattoo artist, watching her practice his handwriting until it was perfect and gazing it with an immense hope when finished.

He also remembered staring at the same tattoo with several degrees of annoyance. How he emphasized with those memories right now.

Hope? What hope this sentence could fill him with? That he would get a milkshake soon?

Akashi detested milkshake like all other sweetened, cold drinks.

'Listen to your heart and drink a vanilla milkshake.'

He threw the tattoo another black look before lowering his hand. What he needed was rest and peace. It was what his heart said.

He ignored all the places that could make a milkshake on his way home. Why he knew so many of them, he didn't question.

Halfway to his house, he noticed he made a wrong turn. With a curse to the irritating tattoo for his disorientation, he turned to the correct street, grumbling.

Then, of course, other pedestrians grumbled too. Akashi freed himself from their disturbed looks only when he entered his apartment building.

It was fine. He was coming home. Rest and peace would solve all his problems.

He opened his front door and braced himself -

Then banged it close with a shout. He had no dog! He never wanted to be welcomed with saliva!

A book, that's what he needed. A nice novel to lose himself into.

Which wasn't in his living room! His library was in his study after all.

Akashi chose a random book in anger, used to his heart's twinge at the empty place Heroes of Akashi would be.

He threw himself into the couch and it gave a puff of dust. He cleaned the house just two days ago - yet a glance showed the coffee table in a similar state of dustiness. The other rooms weren't much better - even his bedcovers were dusty, like they hadn't been used for ages.

This was all the tattoo's fault. He knew it.

And for what? A milkshake?

Grumbling to his heart's content now he was alone, he opened the refrigerator and stared.

Then wrinkled his nose at the rotten stink.

He had done grocery shopping yesterday!

He banged the door just as hard when he left the house. The barista prepared his drink as soon as he entered the cafe. The couple next to him started arguing.

Akashi glared at the white, foamy beverage before taking a sip. He shuddered at its sickening sugary flavor before a warmness spread his insides.

Who did he last share this drink with? A comrade?

He last had comrades in middle school. This felt like a recent memory - conversing with freedom, laughing and trusting someone.

He pushed the half-full glass away, nauseous.

His heart ached.

He thought he had stopped wishing for someone like that.

He never had it.

Or did he?

—

Akashi closed his front door behind him, annoyed at himself.

What was wrong with saying, 'oh, these must have mixed with my books,' and then leave them to the cashier? Well, he had to say it aloud and end up scaring the poor woman but he wouldn't need to buy two random books.

One of them was a coloring book for kids, for god's sake!

While musing on how those books ended up in his basket, Akashi walked to his study. He opened its window before sitting in front of his bookcase - when was the last time he aired his home? The air was stilled and smelled of disuse.

With a grin, he took out the second volume of Urban Hero Myths. He never loved humor series and didn't remember how he started it but it was hilarious. He wondered when this one will look as worn and doggy-eared as its first volume as his eyes wandered over the shelves for the said book.

It wasn't there.

Something else was - a bright pink post-it note was at the empty place of his family heirloom.

He had a list of gruesome commands he would give to whoever dared to disrespect his bloodline, he stared at his own handwriting like a fish out of water.

'Drink vanilla milkshake,' it wrote.

Akashi felt the beginnings of a headache. He glanced at his tattoo; he never understood its cryptic message.

And his clear fascination with a drink he disliked.

After he crumbled the note, he went to his bedroom to check the bedside table for the book. Instead, he found another note on his bed.

There were two more in the living room, one at the center of his TV, another on a cabinet and a larger paper glued to his refrigerator door.

All of them talked about milkshake.

'Did you drink it yet?'

'Drink a vanilla milkshake. Now.'

'Time for a vanilla milkshake.'

There was even one that said:

'No, you don't have the ingredients to prepare one at here. You don't live here. Drink your milkshake.'

When he opened the refrigerator to check its claim, it was empty except for another note.

'Call the Emergency Milkshake Line,' it said, giving a phone number.

Akashi wondered if he had fallen into an Alternate Universe.

Out of curiosity he searched the number, only to find out it was in his contacts list, saved under its ridiculous name.

Akashi sat on the dusty counter of his empty kitchen and laughed with hysteria. Then called the number.


	7. We've already come this far

**7 - We've already come this far**

Akashi closed his front door behind him and leaned to it, staring at his feet with empty eyes.

It was clear he didn't live in this place. He took only two steps into the house to decide it. When he closed his eyes and thought of his home, his faint image of the welcoming place didn't have a distant relation with this cold and desolate apartment.

He recalled spending time in his house - cooking in the kitchen, lying on the couch or browsing through the bookshelves. They even looked like this apartment but - they weren't.

This place didn't feel right.

It also looked unlived-in.

With a sigh, Akashi straightened and left the apartment building.

Where did he live? Where was home?

If he walked around without aim, would his feet carry him there? What his mind forgot, would his body remember?

He gulped. Did he have a medical condition? He heard of powers that affected its owner's health - did his affected his memory?

Nothing showed on his obligatory check-up but -

Why did this happen? How could he forget where he lived? What happened?

His ears were ringing. He clasped his eyes shut and gripped his head.

It was fine; he ate his breakfast at home and then left for a walk. But when he returned, it wasn't the right place.

He needed to calm down. This might a villain's revenge or a scared hero's attack; just because it never happened before didn't mean it couldn't.

Akashi gulped breaths and wiped his face. He was okay. Every memory block had a weak point, he could solve it.

He wandered without an aim, hoping a sight and noise would trigger his memory but everything was familiar, like the way to his home.

He must have lived at that empty, cold apartment for some time.

Now, he only needed to find another street that familiar.

He would roam the whole city by foot if he had to.

Only when his legs ached, did he stop at a bench. He launched his map app to mark his progress, then cursed his idiocy.

His breath hitched - no, no, nothing was wrong with his brain functions. He was surprised after all. It is normal to react like -

He opened his contacts list, hoping any name would sound familiar. Did he have a home number?

No, he didn't. And he knew all the names, of course.

Even the Emergency Milkshake Line. He remembered saving it, as well as laughing like a madman when it called. His finger hovered over the delete option - he also recalled deleting this contact a few times.

If they were on milkshakes - he looked at his tattoo. 'Listen to your heart and drink a vanilla milkshake.'

As much as directions went, this one was clear.

With a tiny light rekindling in his chest, Akashi walked to the nearest cafe.

The fluffy white drink wasn't as bad as he imagined. So sugary that it hurt his throat, yes, and Akashi felt like complaining - but also like there was someone to answer him. A precious companion not afraid of Akashi, joy and disbelief that there could be such a person out there and confidence that this person would never give up on him.

Akashi clutched his chest. It ached - was there really a person like that? - but it also hammered in excitement.

Was this person - home?

He looked at his tattoo again. How did he listen to his heart? How did he find the way to home?

He gulped the rest of his drink and ordered another one, on-the-go. With a sip, he focused on his vague image of the cozy house. He walked, without knowing where he was going while trying to remember anything, even the tiniest scrap.

Like yipping of a puppy.

Cleaning a broken plate, amused.

A bookshelf with his family heirloom sitting proud at the center.

When he finished his drink, he bought another one, feeling like he was supposed to receive it from his special faceless someone.

That person had to exist.

Please.

He was nauseous and his hands were shaking from a sugar high when a street felt right.

When he found the correct door, Akashi touched it with a trembling hand. He had already come this far. With a deep breath, he ringed the doorbell and his heart skipped a beat when a dog barked inside.

Someone opened the door - was this the one? Who? Who was this person? - he fell to the ground in bewilderment with an energetic ball of fur licking his face.

Akashi's eyes were on the blue-haired man though. His eyes widened and then shone with the most beautiful smile Akashi had ever seen.

"Welcome home, Seijuro," he said, extending a hand to help him up.

Was he the one? That comrade - that cherished person?

Akashi took his hand and entered the house, the dog following behind with a happy yip.

Yes, this was his home.

But, the person - he still didn't remember -

"I am Kuroko Tetsuya," he said, as if reading his thoughts. He caressed Akashi's cheek as Akashi was falling to his sky-deep eyes.

Yes, this person was the one. He knew it in his heart.

"I am home."

The End

 **Author's Note:** Thank you everyone! Thank you for reading this story and thank you to all the people who commented, left kudos, liked, reviewed, bookmarked and favorited this story. I am glad this fandom is still alive and we get to make another AkaKuro week.

This story was quite experimental and build-on-the-road for me and I can still find some holes and unexplained stuff but I hope you still enjoyed it. Sorry for all the people that cried - it was never my intention :)

Thank you again, everyone. It is time for me to crawl back to my corner of monthly publishing schedule. Hope to see you again.


End file.
